Crime News Breaking News

Chad Daybell's Kids Say He's Innocent, Claim Lori Vallow Duped Him ‘In The Most Deadly Way Possible’

Chad Daybell's adult daughter Emma Murray say he "was framed" by Lori Vallow and her now-dead brother Alex Cox.

By Gina Tron

Chad Daybell’s children believe that the only reason that their father is currently in legal trouble is because he was duped and then framed by his current wife Lori Vallow.

Daybell's five adult children banded together for a CBS’s “48 Hours” interview, which ran on Wednesday, to defend their father.

"I think he was fooled in the worst, most deadly way possible," daughter Emma Murray said in the show.

She and her siblings broke their year of silence to announce that they believe their father is innocent.

"My father needs someone to be a voice for him," Murray said. "To let people know what's real, what we know."

The bodies of Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, were discovered in 2020 on Daybell's Idaho property. Both Vallow and Daybell are currently facing charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in in connection with their deaths. Daybell has pleaded not guilty to all charges while Lori has been temporarily sent to a mental health facility after she was declared mentally unfit to stand trial back in May. Her stay was extended this week.

Daybell is also accused of killing his former wife Tammy Daybell, who was found dead in the former couple’s home in October of 2019.

Additionally, Vallow was indicted in July on one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in her fourth husband Charles Vallow’s 2019 death. Vallow’s brother Alex Cox fatally shot Charles to death at an Arizona home where Lori and her now-dead children were living following the couple's split. Cox had claimed that the killing was in self-defense. He was never charged and in fact died that same year; an autopsy determined his death to be tied to a pulmonary embolism. Recently released court documents reveal that Cox waited 43 minutes to call 911 after shooting Charles. In addition, immediately following the shooting Lori allegedly took a trip to Burger King, all while Charles lay dying.

Murray believes the Vallow and her brother set her dad up.

“He was framed,” she told “48 Hours."

Daybell’s kids believe their father, a former gravedigger who had become a religious author whose writings focused on end times, was too smart to bury the kids on his own property if he had anything to do with the crime. They said he also knows how to dig deep graves. The two children were discovered in shallow graves.

“This is his property,” Murray while standing on her father’s land. “If there's bodies buried here, it would be attributed to him.”

The episode also went over some of the more bizarre beliefs the controversial couple allegedly had.

Vallow’s friend, Melanie Gibb, told investigators that Vallow had become convinced that many of her family members — including JJ and Tylee — had become “zombies,” according to a probable cause statement previously obtained by Oxygen.com.

“He never said a thing to us about zombies,” son Garth Daybell told “48 Hours.” “The first we ever heard of it was in a news report.”

Murray added, “I think if he was going to start a cult, we would be the prime members.”

She said she doesn’t think her father radicalized Vallow and instead believes that Vallow manipulated her dad.

“I think he was fooled in the worst, most deadly way possible,” she said.